PACE OCI Ocean Color
Chlorophyll-a, dissolved and detrital absorption, and particle backscatter.
Imagery and data discovery
Find the right ESL product
Start with a location, a satellite and sensor, or the information you need. Viewing, date selection, animation, and downloads remain in the established product tools.
How would you like to begin?
Choose one path. You can come back and switch at any time.
Explore by topic
What information are you looking for?
These are scientific and operational ESL tools; satellite selection remains available as a separate path.
Ocean and coastal conditions
GOES ABI and MUR SST
ESL nighttime warm-pixel sea-surface temperature composites and daily MUR analyses.
True Color Imagery
Natural-color coastal and Gulf views from PACE, MODIS, VIIRS, and Sentinel-2.
Weather and hazards
Real-time GOES ABI Water Vapor
Current atmospheric water-vapor animation for tracking large-scale weather patterns.
Hurricane Activity Dashboard
Current outlooks, forecast cones, ensembles, water vapor, and season context.
Rainfall Dashboard
Recent NOAA MRMS rainfall, radar animations, and official WPC forecasts.
Historical events
Historical Hurricane Explorer
Study and compare past hurricane tracks, seasons, and custom regions.
Hurricanes, Floods, and Loop Current Events
Curated animations and imagery from notable storms, floods, and ocean events.
Satellite and sensor
Choose the view that fits your question
Resolution and availability vary with orbit, cloud cover, acquisition geometry, and the ESL archive.
Terra and Aqua · MODIS
Regional True Color
A familiar, long-running record for broad coastal and Gulf context.
AdvantagesLong archive; wide scenes; useful for plume-scale patterns.
LimitationsLess spatial detail than VIIRS or Sentinel-2; clouds obscure water.
Suomi-NPP / NOAA-20 / NOAA-21 · VIIRS
Regional True Color
Detailed regional imagery using the best supported VIIRS acquisition available.
AdvantagesSharper regional detail and multiple satellite opportunities.
LimitationsCloud and orbit gaps remain; acquisition coverage varies by region.
Sentinel-2A/2B/2C · MSI
High-resolution Coastal True Color
Selected fine-detail scenes for supported Louisiana bays, deltas, and channels.
AdvantagesBest detail for shoreline, marsh, channel, and localized plume features.
LimitationsNot daily; narrow swaths, clouds, haze, and glint limit usable scenes.
PACE · OCI
True Color and Ocean Color Science
Daily Gulf visual context plus chlorophyll, dissolved material, and particle products.
AdvantagesOcean-focused hyperspectral sensor and quantitative ocean-color products.
LimitationsScientific maps are approximately 4 km; clouds and orbital gaps remove data.
Explore by location
Start with a coastal area
These links open the established viewer most likely to contain useful imagery. Region choices remain inside each viewer.
Louisiana coast and estuaries
Vermilion Bay
Use Louisiana Coast imagery to examine the bay and surrounding shelf.
Atchafalaya Bay and Delta
Regional plume context plus high-resolution delta and nearshore views.
Mississippi River Delta and Plume
Observe plume extent, coastal morphology, and ocean-color structure.
Lake Calcasieu and Ship Channel
Fine-detail imagery of the lake, channel, and adjacent nearshore Gulf.
Lake Pontchartrain
High-resolution lake imagery and wider regional coastal context.
Louisiana Coast and Shelf
Compare river-plume patterns and ocean-color conditions across the coast.
Gulf shelves and basin
Gulf of America
Full-basin imagery, ocean color, and sea-surface temperature.
Northwest Gulf and Texas–Louisiana Shelf
Western shelf, coastal currents, river influence, and offshore context.
Northeast Gulf and Mississippi Bight
Mississippi–Alabama coastal waters, barrier islands, and eastern shelf.
West Florida Shelf
Broad eastern shelf and coastal optical gradients.
Florida Keys
Regional views of the Keys, surrounding shelf, and adjacent waters.
Deep Central Gulf Basin
Offshore-basin context away from the major river mouths.
Bay of Campeche and Yucatán
Southern Gulf coastal waters, basin structure, and Yucatán region.
Broader regional views
Northwest Atlantic
ESL and MUR sea-surface-temperature imagery for the Atlantic domain.
Continental United States
National and regional rainfall observations and official forecasts.